Ping An invests in ride-hailing service Grab

Ping An invests in ride-hailing service Grab | Insurance Business

Ride-hailing company Grab has raised US$1 billion from several investors, including China’s Ping An Insurance and Korean internet company Naver.

The additional funding will be used to tackle unfinished challenges following Singapore-based Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asian businesses, a report by Nikkei said. As part of the deal with Uber, the American firm gained a stake in Grab.

In June, Grab received another US$1 billion investment from Toyota Motors, bringing its latest fundraising round to a total of US$2 billion.

Investment was led by Ping An Capital, a unit of the Chinese insurance company, and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, a joint investment fund set up by the South Korean asset manager and the country’s largest internet service operator. Prior to Toyota’s investment, several big corporations, including Japan’s SoftBank Group have invested around US$4 billion in Grab.

While acquiring Uber’s Southeast Asian businesses made Grab the dominant player in the region’s ride-hailing market, it still faces competition from other firms such as Indonesia’s Go-Jek. The latest investment opens avenues for Grab to collaborate with its investors, such as Ping An with insurance services for its drivers, for example.

“We have seen overwhelming interest from global strategic investors and partners who are keen to partner with us to capture the region’s booming growth,” Grab president Ming Maa said in a statement.